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Super Crater Discovered in Australia
Added: (Tue Oct 03 2006)
For Release on October 13, 2006
Super Crater Discovered in Australia:
What may be the single largest impact crater on the planet, if not the entire solar system, has been discovered in Australia. The crater measures an incredible 1400+ miles in diameter. The crater, first discovered by amatuer geologist Gene Harvey, was ironically found while watching the local news about another much smaller crater discovered by Eugene Shoemaker in Australia.
Gene Harvey, a computer expert living in Kingman, Arizona, discovered the crater on April 6, of this year,but he states that the crater has yet to be confirmed and Harvey says that such confirmation may take several years - due to the extreme size of the crater. However, Harvey states that the crater meets all of the expected criteria for being a genuine crater, the most significant being a multiple ringlike structure showing extreme deformation. Additionally, the crater displays a 'rebound zone' typically know as a 'mascon' found at the exact center of the crater.
Harvey has been attempting to verify the discovery by himself by doing extensive web searches on the geophysical properties of the region, but going it alone is difficult without any funding sources.
Notwithstanding, Harvey has already uncovered multiple image maps of the Australian continent , (freely available on the internet). showing the gravitational and magnetic anomalies of the crater. Additionially, Harvey is currently searching the internet for publications relating to 'deep core' samplings of the the continent to further help with confirmation. Deep core samples would confirm the presence of 'impact melt' materials that would have been the result of extreme temperatures caused by the impact.
Harvey is quick to give full credit to all of his web sources, the most important being Google Maps, (http://maps.google.com) the website that gave him the first initial satellite images of the crater. The gravity and magnetic maps were found on Australian Geosciences websites such as http://www-a.ga.gov.au/map .
Harvey has already reported the discovery to NASA, and the Regional Planetary Imaging Facility,(RPIF), at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick located in Canada, and has been in contact with both facilities and is awaiting confirmation from them.
For viewing of this crater go to:
http://maps.google.com and type Australia in the 'maps' address bar. Click on 'satellite' image. The crater will be easily visible - as it covers 2/3 of the Australian continent.